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2016 looking rosy for smartphone vendors, despite some turbulence

Despite some turbulence for some vendors, 2016 is shaping up to be a good year for the smartphone market, with new forecasts predicting more than 1.5 billion smartphones to be shipped in the next 12 months.

That’s according to global analyst firm Canalys, who says the industry will grow by more than 10% in 2015 thanks to new opportunities.

Canalys says it is estimating total worldwide mobile phone shipments of just under two billion units, with the smart phone share at 77%.

Ishan Dutt, Canalys research analyst based in Singapore, says industry growth is decelerating, making it a much tougher environment for vendors.

In Asia Pacific, the fourth quarter of 2015 saw the total mobile phone market shrink annually for the first time ever, with shipments decreasing by 2% to reach a total of 263 million units.

Dutt says smartphone shipments to all of Asia Pacific are expected to exceed the 1 billion mark in 2019.

Latin America represented less than 10% of global smart phone shipments in 2015, with currency fluctuations and weakening economies slowing the high growth previously seen in the region.

“There are still strong areas of opportunity for smart phone vendors,” says Dutt.

“Those that have the finances and resources to invest in not only hardware innovation, but also developing and supporting channels and services in new and existing markets will create the right environment for growth,” he explains